In the course of four weeks (June 9 until July 9, 2006) Germany was nothing but a huge party. Celebrating the fantastic achievements of our national soccer team.Sönke Wortmann, the director of this documentation, accompanied the team during this time. "Deutschland - Ein Sommermärchen" gives us a glance behind the curtain.The beginning is at the same time the most tragical moment. The defeat against Italy along with the grieving players and coaches.Afterwards the movie chronologically goes the way from the training camp until the semi - final. We are able to see the players in their training sessions, tactical discussions among the coaching staff, and lots of fooling around from the young players like Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski. We can see that a team was growing. We can see the intense sense of community and solidarity among them.The documentation doesn't focus on the soccer scenes alone. However, it doesn't neglect them. We see the goals again, the enthusiastic fans, the hilarious atmosphere which infected the whole country.I'm glad we also see a lot of what happened apart from the football ground. It's interesting to see what happened in the dressing room while we (the fans watching on TV) were fetching another drink or going to the toilet or whatever we did during the breaks.Altogether I can recommend this documentation to everyone who had fun in the great summer 2006. And I recommend it to everyone who considers the Germans to be some non-smiling accurate work-robots.It was a unique experience. A whole nation was backing up its soccer team. National flags were waving from every car, every house. It was, as if Germany had completely changed over night. That's why we call it a summer fairy-tale - "Ein Sommermärchen".

Well, I am used to the omni-present criticism of Germans. That's why I would like to say: well done, Sönke! Great documentation, funny situations. Would have loved to see more of the boot camp in Italy, though;) Looking forward to the DVD release with additional scenes. My friend and me had to smile every other scene. And it was quite an insight to see what happens in the locker room before, during and after a game - especially for someone who (like me) has never played a team sport on a competition level. And even Ballack grew on me - I never really liked him before - which might have to do with my fondness of Werder Bremen, though;)But of course the hero is Torsten "Lutscher" Frings! Why? See for yourself!!

After watching the trailer, everyone, who had the chance of participating the world cup this summer in Germany, wishes to watch this movie, especially, if you are a German team sympathizer.What do you get: 108 Minutes of an intense look of a great team with a lot of young, but talented soccer players from Germany, all the way from about three weeks before the opening match to the last match of the team, the "Third Place match". It isn't an usual documentary, you only get the main events during the match of the German team.The movie begins after losing the semifinal against Italy, just watching sad and disappointed players. Then, the whole journey is told, from the fitness training over the first group matches to the finals. You'll see some funny events during this time, a lot of interviews with both players and staff. You also get the chance to see the last words of the coach before the matches start.Almost everyone, who watched this movie, felt the atmosphere of those fantastic four weeks here in Germany. You may need to be interested in the sport to enjoy this movie. More than that, you should know at least the main characters (coach Klinsmann e.g.). Otherwise you will have some problems to understand some of the events taking place during the movie.Bottom line: Midfielder Frings said at the end of the movie: "we (the team) should have deserved more" (meaning more then the third place). After accompanying the team through this movie, you probably say: "you're definitely right". As viewer, you will realize the broken dream, but you will enjoy this movie.

I think this documentary is very typical of Germans in particular and of people in general. Now, we have all seen the national team play the World Cup and we were very satisfied with the outcome of the tournament (funnily enough, when Germany made runner's up in 2002, people weren't as frantic about Germany and the German team as they are now, after the World Cup 2006 IN Germany). And when I watched the matches, I observed the unaggressive and unobtrusive birth of what news magazines called the NEW NATIONALISM. I didn't really take part in this, but I didn't mind it either (I just thought: Oh, O.K. why not, after fifty years of forbidden patriotism, let the baby have his bottle).But this documentary is overdoing it a bit. First of all, I didn't like Sönke Wortmanns DAS WUNDER VON BERN, because it was way too corny as a movie and it didn't discuss the controversial link between German soccer and German nationalism shortly after WWII at all (For example, it didn't mention how Peco Bauwens, the head of the German soccer association, held a speech just after Germany won the World Cup in 1954, talking about the connection between physical education and nationalism in a way you'd probably only expect it from someone like Hitler).And now this: A film that takes us on a trip into the locker room for the one and only reason to satisfy our curiosity. We don't really learn anything new about the strategy of coach Jürgen Klinsmann or about the physical part of soccer. This documentary quenches nothing but our thirst for the invasion of privacy. In a way, it is not very different from Big Brother: We do not satisfy ourselves any longer with seeing our soccer players on the field, no, we have to follow them everywhere: into the locker rooms, into the hallways of the stadiums' catacombs, everywhere! I still don't understand why the soccer players let Wortmann invade their privacy to such an extent. I can only think of two reasons: money and vanity! And Wortmann is a copycat, too. He knew that a French director had had an incredible success doing a documentary on the French team in 1998, when the French won the World Cup. He knew that a lot of money was to be made on such a documentary, and that this was an opportunity he couldn't miss.Now, I know that people are going to say: If you are so against it, why did you go and see it. The reason is: I am like everyone else. Sometimes when I go shopping I look at all these magazines such as GALA, BUNTE and so on (For the non-German readers: these are magazines that solely discuss the private life of celebrities or wannabe celebrities), and I catch myself reading or leafing through one or two of them. It's the same mechanism that comes into play when you witness a car accident: You look! You watch the ambulance, the casualties, the police, because you are so unbelievably curious. And this very same mechanism made me watch this documentary. I watched it out of pure curiosity, but I didn't really learn anything watching it. And, on me,it had the same effect as a car accident: I felt ashamed of my curiosity!